Room 209 At The Horton - Only For "Very Sweet Girls."

I have a co-worker, and now friend, who "lives in San Diego" for a few days' stretch each month. When he is in the area, he lives in what used to be a whore house. The Horton Grand Hotel.

Naturally, whenever he is in town, I drive down to the city to grab a meal or meet with him. Usually I take off after dinner, having had barely a glass of wine. (I am paranoid about drinking more than that and driving.)  But this time, because we be meeting with some clients, I decided to book myself in the hotel as well. 

But I wanted a very specific room in the hotel. 

I had heard from my friend that the hotel was haunted. After researching, and talking to the events manager at the hotel via email, I learned that there were two rooms that were haunted... Room 309 by a male ghost, and room 209 by Miss Ida Bailey - the former madam of the brothel.

Earlier in the week, I called the hotel directly and made a special request...

"I'd like to book room 209 please. Is it available?"

After some moments, they were able to arrange it for me. Two days later, I arrived to the hotel and checked in early. My room wasn't yet ready, so I sat in the courtyard and admired the exterior of what used to be the whore house...

Eventually, I was able to get into my room on the second floor. It was located at the end of a short hallway area...

Very "REDRUM", isn't it?

The room was an oddly shaped but spacious hideaway. I had a small balcony into the courtyard, as well as windows that looked onto Island Street.

Two double beds with carved headboards and an elaborate array of pillows on each were for sleeping...

And there was even a fireplace in the room...

It had long been turned into a gas one though.

I set my things down on one of the beds and left for a long afternoon of chatting, eating, drinking and laughing. Over seven hours later, I returned to the room... Exhausted and ready to crash into sleep.  I changed into my PJs, crawled into bed and switched off my bedside lamp.

I fell asleep right away.

My dreams were quite active. I know I dreamed, but as usual... I found myself half asleep/half awake, trying to recall my dream. In my sleepy discombobulation, I decided not to try to recall it, and just rolled over onto my left side.

A few minutes later, I was hearing an old woman's voice.

"You're such a sweet girl," she laughed. I felt her hand stroking the right side of my forehead, near my right ear. "Such a butterfly. Very social. Such a sweet girl."

I opened my eyes.

It was comforting, not scary. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and looked at it. It said that it was 4:12 am exactly... A lucky number for me.

I lay awake for a little while... Trying to determine if I conjured the encounter from a meditating brain, or if it actually happened.